Artificial intelligence has been a topic for a long time. This year, however, it received a huge push due to ChatGPT, Google Bard, and other tools. Why is that and what will AI bring us in the future? TECHBOOK spoke to a tech founder and expert about this.
Large companies like Microsoft and Google are currently investing a lot of time and money in the development of AI solutions. AI is in the process of completely transforming life as we know it – both privately and professionally. But what are current AI solutions doing differently than before, where does the hype come from and are there limits to artificial intelligence? We have about that with you Bilal Zafar spoken. He not only gives lectures on the subject of AI, he is a co-founder of correctly good apply. de and the experience portal dab are also affected by the developments themselves and can provide exciting insights into dealing with AI.
Bilal, you hear about AI everywhere. You can no longer avoid the topic. Therefore, to start with, the question: What is AI anyway? Can you briefly explain it in two or three sentences?
Artificial intelligence is actually very easy to explain. It simulates human thinking. We as humans have eyes and ears and that is exactly how you can feed the AI – with sensors and cameras. For the first time, this is an issue that affects all areas of life. We are experiencing a paradigm shift, AI will dramatically influence and change all areas of life in the next five years.
How did you get into the topic of AI?
I have two internet companies with my brother. One is an online platform for leisure activities, the other is an online platform for jobs. We’ve had the second start-up for ten years and the topic of technology is always present at a technology company. Artificial intelligence is an extension of what we are already doing. And that’s why the topic is very interesting and affects us directly.
When you give your talks, are there certain questions that people keep asking about AI?
Yes, people often ask and say: “AI isn’t that good after all. AI isn’t that powerful after all. AI is still bad.” But we see the development. We have an exponential development, with a vertical upward trend. We haven’t had that before. We have never had a technical development that had such a rapid, such a strong impact. In January of this year, AI still had a few bugs and now, halfway through the year, we’ve already fixed a lot of bugs.
As a technical editor, the topic of AI has been with me for a few years, for example in certain functions in smartphones. So AI is not a topic that was invented in 2023. For example, where is AI already being used? Longer than we think and maybe also in products or in areas where we would not expect AI at all?
In hearing aids, for example, AI has been present for some time. It’s about suppressing background noise. You can say I want to hear the conversation well and then adjust the hearing aid accordingly. AI already exists in the healthcare industry. But also with face recognition. Certain major cell phone brands already have very advanced facial recognition. She sorts pictures by people, regardless of whether the person has a beard, long hair, short hair, or is photographed from the side.
The big cell phone manufacturers with their software can recognize people. There we have facial recognition using AI – not fully developed AI yet, but algorithms that are already showing a tendency towards AI.
This year, AI has made an insane leap. What are the most important applications where AI is already being used? What else can we expect?
The topic of AI is currently a lot about repetitive tasks and large amounts of data. Many work steps and work that we do today are simply no longer necessary. If we take a critical look at this, then we see that a lot involves typing data, repeating it, generating content. Things that computers can do much better. Concretely Excel. Many people move numbers back and forth in Excel. This is no longer necessary at all. I’ll say it carefully, it’s actually medieval that we’re doing this. A computer understands connections much faster.
And new products are coming onto the market. That’s going to be very exciting. Many industries will change significantly. In a positive way, I think. Because then we have more time for meaningful tasks.
Do you have a top 3 of applications where AI is already being used? You have already mentioned data processing, for example.
With large amounts of data, with texts. Humans can use AI to create texts. And in the creation of images. There are tools where you no longer need a photo model or a photographer. You can easily create both with a snap of your fingers. It’s a paradigm shift, something that hasn’t happened before.
That actually sounds like a great opportunity, but I also have concerns. You get the feeling that people are becoming superfluous in certain areas. If you can imitate voices or manipulate photos, isn’t that also dangerous?
The technology raises a big ethical question. Reality and fiction blur. Philosophers and people who deal with these topics have to answer that. I’m more concerned with the benefits of how we can use AI. And we should also be careful, because in Germany we are quite critical. We shouldn’t stall technological progress and leave that triumph to the Americans, the Chinese, and maybe a third nation. Rather, as Europeans, we should embrace the technology and put aside what I call privacy excuses a little. Privacy matters, but not as an excuse not to use AI.
We should act now. It’s also not the case that many jobs will be lost all at once, but that new jobs will appear. The jobs are redefined. It was the same with other technological things. The mobile phone hasn’t put people out of work either, or the computer, or Photoshop, or other tools that directly intervene in the creative work. New jobs are added.
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I also like to refer to AI as the second industrial revolution. At that time, many were certainly skeptical – many manual jobs were done by machines. Now we have the switch to an intelligence that does not come from humans, but from computers. You say that data protection should not be ignored. Are there points where you say, with all the advantages that the AI brings, one should still be a bit careful?
There are weaknesses in AI, i.e. artificial intelligence. One quote I like to share is from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai: “The impact of AI will be more profound than the discovery of fire and electricity.” A lot of people don’t realize this. It’s not a trend, it’s a complete paradigm shift.
However, there is a challenge that we have a black box with AI. That means you put an input in, something happens, and you don’t know why a particular output is coming out because there’s just so much data available. This has never happened before in human history. You always knew if I do A and the algorithm is B, the result will be C. But this time there are challenges that the big tech CEOs also see. That’s why Elon Musk says AI is more dangerous than the atomic bomb. And once you look at it, you can understand why he says that. But AI also offers the greatest opportunity humanity has ever had.
Which ones, for example?
Heal diseases. We have so much data. For example, Google has a protein database that has been made available to the world for free. The pharmaceutical industry and others can use them. This is incredible data at the smallest molecular level. I’m no biologist now, but they’re available. You can say I have this disease, how do I mix the medicine to cure this and that disease? Indeed, with the help of AI and other medical developments, certain diseases may soon be a thing of the past.
You briefly mentioned earlier that AI will ensure that certain jobs will eventually disappear or be restructured. What do you think will emerge for new jobs? What will working life look like in the future?
The big Internet and software companies Google and Microsoft have already announced major changes. For example, Google has announced that Bard – Google’s AI – is now also available in Germany. ChatGPT from Microsoft and Open AI have been around for a while. You can see how powerful the tools are.
When you asked what specific new jobs are coming, there will be new jobs like “Prompt Engineer”. You learn, what is the best way to enter? How to communicate with the AI? AI has many human elements. If you had asked me two years ago if AI could think and feel, I would have said, “No way.” Now I’m not so sure. It’s like in the movie “HER” where the protagonist falls in love with an AI voice. That was 2013 and was considered science fiction. I saw the film at the time too. Now it may not be science fiction anymore. You might actually fall in love with an AI voice.
Where will we meet AI in the future? You said in different jobs, so photo, data processing, maybe in medicine. That’s all?
Everywhere. Also in the restaurant, in medicine, when driving. In the next few years, I think things like accidents will decrease dramatically. I have a car with a lot of technology and earlier when I drove here my car braked dramatically. The sensors registered a cyclist who suddenly came out from behind another car. I have not seen her. It was an automatic emergency stop. This means that the car potentially saved the cyclist through a mixture of autonomous driving and AI. It recognized her as a person, not as another car or a piece of paper blown about by the wind. Here the AI is already intervening in our lives.
There will be far fewer accidents, certain diseases will no longer exist. Certain jobs will of course only be available to a limited extent. They will then be replaced by new jobs. And I look forward to that.
I also find it interesting that there are people who say: “AI, I don’t believe in that.” Because Siri and Alexa are not that good. Sometimes you ask about the weather and then it doesn’t work. But that’s old technology. AI will overtake this technology. And when we have voice assistants powered by AI, that’s when things get really interesting.
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You said some don’t believe in AI. Hence my final question: If you were to sit across from someone who didn’t believe in AI, had doubts or was afraid of it, what would you say to calm that person’s fear?
You can see a lot if you try it. You can see what works well and what doesn’t. ChatGPT is the best for the consumer that is currently available. The other AI tools are coming slowly and I would just try them out. Just have the birthday card written with a prompt. A lot of people don’t realize that you can be very specific about this. You can enter different data, for example the person’s age, what they like, how personal the text should be. Things come out that are more personal than the personal. It’s incredible.